Overview and Key Features:
Members of the University community must secure their access to sensitive systems and protect themselves when connecting from remote locations, such as while traveling or working from home. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) allow a user to route their computer’s internet traffic through a specific network while not directly connected to it. U of T offers two VPN tools for different purposes:
- UTORvpn: A general remote access VPN that protects connections and allows users to connect to the campus wireless network remotely.
- AdminVPN: Allows the owners of administrative and academic systems, as well as department administrators, to enforce strong authentication and secure connections.
Getting started
- Download Cisco Secure Client (for desktop) or the Cisco Secure Client app (for Android/iOS). Cisco Secure Client was previously known as “Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client”.
- Installation instructions for Secure Client can be found below.
- Open Cisco Secure Client.
- From the dropdown menu, enter or select “general.vpn.utoronto.ca” and click Connect.
- An authentication window will open. Enter your UTORid and password, then cick OK.
- Your computer will notify you that it is now connected to UTORvpn.
For detailed connection walkthroughs, see the Enterprise Service Centre (ESC) Knowledge Base:
Installing the VPN client
You must have an administrator account to install Cisco Secure Client on desktop. If you are using a U of T-managed workstation, contact your local IT help desk to have them install the software for you.
Installing on Windows
- Navigate to your Downloads folder and run the Cisco Secure Client .msi
- Agree to the licence agreement and the installation will complete.
- Navigate to your Downloads folder
- Double-click on the Cisco Secure Client .pkg file to start the installer.
- Click Continue and accept the license agreement.
- Uncheck all modules except VPN. Click Continue.
- Navigate to your Downloads folder and extract the Cisco Secure Client gz file to a directory.
- Navigate to the VPN directory under the extracted directory. Right-click and choose Open In Terminal.
- Run the command: sudo bash vpn_install.sh. Enter your password when prompted.
- Agree to the license agreement and the installation will complete.